Re: [casi] Full Amnesty Report on Iraq 2002

From: "nermin" <na.ali@DELETETHISuruklink.net>

Subject: Re: [casi] Full Amnesty Report on Iraq 2002

Date: Fri, 31 May 2002 18:00:41 +0400

Hi Felicity, Hasan and all
Till now I am waiting the end of this discussion about human rights and AI
annual report.
Regarding Iraq, the report repeats itself year after year and has nothing to
say but the same information without any documents.
Yes I agree with Hasan that most of data are biased on reports given by
Iraqis who seek asylum in the west and they forgot that they had finished
their studies in Iraq where the education was free, or in western
universities on the expenses of Iraqi government. Again, I agree with Hasan
that being against one person dose not mean being against whole country and
nation, but!
The same report indicates the double standard of the terms (human rights
and terrorism). Many international personalities assure that the sanctions
are violating the Human Rights Chart and many other international accords in
this field, but who dares to put this in a report?
We know that US and according to AI reports can attack any country because
it violates human rights
( I am not attack AI, )> yet, who can attack US? Although the annual
reports of AI assured that US is the only place where teenagers were
executed and the colored went to jail without any accusations but they are
colored.
About Halabja, I attended a press conference in Baghdad in 1990. It was in
June or July, I do not remember, attended by April Gelaspy, the US
ambassador in Iraq, and many of American businessmen, in that conference,
she, the ambassador, said that US had information that Halabja was attacked
chemically by Iranians. I am saying this, now, because I do not prefer
interring in such discussion that takes us far from CASI main goal: being
anti- sanctions. It is a humanitarian goal has nothing with politics.
Best regards
Nermin al-Mufty
----- Original Message -----
From: "Hassan Zeini" <hasseini@maktoob.com>
To: <casi-discuss@lists.casi.org.uk>
Sent: Friday, May 31, 2002 9:25 AM
Subject: Re: [casi] Full Amnesty Report on Iraq 2002
Dear CASI members,
As an Iraqi living in Europe, I found the discussion on the AI report quite
distracting.
Yasser Alaskary seems to have an agenda of his own, as does the member
signing
as Baghdad. This is their full right no doubt.
However to build everything on personal hatred for one person (Saddam
Hussein)
is not the right way to approach problems.
To begin with, I personally do not have much faith in AI and its reports.
Some
will not like this, but I have my reasons. Its reports are written by
people, not
infallible human beings. It is mostly based on hearsay and second hand
information; from people who claim to have witnessed this or that. In many
of the
cases, if not most of them, people have been known to fabricate stories in
order
to gain asylum in the west. I know of many cases in Europe where people have
come
seeking political asylum (because they are Shi’i or Kurd) when in reality
their
only reason was looking for a better life (economically).
In 1990, AI embarrassed itself and us by accepting at face value the US
allegations about Iraqis killing babies in the incubators in Kuwait. AI did
not
check the allegations, simply rushed to condemn Iraq. I would hesitate very
much
before trusting news in such a way…
I was in Baghdad last month and I met Tony there too. Nobody is claiming
Iraq
is a paradise or that there is no oppression. But to make an issue of check
points
in the roads borders on the ridiculous. If the writer would have travelled
to
Syria or Jordan, he would have seen similar or worse cases. None of those
countries is at war or under sanctions
or daily bombings.
Was Tony “concentrating on "bad points" of the sanctions system?”.
Definitely.
And so should every fair-minded person in the world. We set out our
priorities
first before acting, and I for one believe that sanctions are the worst
crime in
human kind. Nothing else compares to it…
I lived most of my life in Iraq, not only “was in Iraq prior to the
Coalition
attacks of 1991”, and I can say with all fairness that Iraq enjoyed a social
standard unmatched in the whole area. This is confirmed even by UN
organizations.
Salaries were amongst the highest in the area, medical service was excellent
as
was education. The government spent on electrification, water and sewage
projects,
housing and a whole range of public benefit projects. I am sure both Yasser
and
Baghdad enjoyed those benefits, bought the subsidized goods from the shops,
travelled like they wanted, and finished their studies without paying a
penny.
Getting involved in politics is another issue, not only in Iraq, but also in
any country in the area. Iraq is not the exception. Just
a look at the recent oppressive measures in the Arab world where
demonstrations
were stopped by the army tells us a lot.
Halabja is brought back now and then, and I still haven’t seen a single
shred
of evidence, apart from a report by some Zionist researcher for HRW, that
shows it
was Iraq that had gassed halabja. There is also another report which accuses
Iran
of being the one that did the gassing. Why do Yasser and Baghdad disregard
that
report, and accept the other? Is it hatred, or is there a sectarian agenda
behind
that?
What happened in Dujeil should perhaps be explained, not taken out of
context.
An assassination attempt was made against Saddam, who escaped it having
changed
his route. His cars were attacked. He retaliated (the American/Israeli term
nowadays accepted?). I believe George Bush would have done the same. In
fact,
Clinton bombed Baghdad with cruise missiles because of an allegation that
Iraq had
tried to assassinate George Bush Sr. in Kuwait; a simple allegation and
suspicion
was enough…. Do we hear comments about that? Do we hear comments about how
the
Syrian city of Hama was bombarded by the army in the 1970’s for a similar
reason?
I am not saying I approve what happened in Dujeil. On the contrary, I oppose
any form of violence or oppression. My point is that you can not
go about trying to kill somebody, and when it fails and he turns to you, you
start screaming: murderer! There are no good killers and bad killers.
During the 1991 uprising, members of the Ba'ath party, officials and even
members of their families were killed by members of the uprising. In one
famous
case, a poet who used to praise Saddam had his tongue cut before he was
excuted.
Is this the kind of regime that will replace Saddam's?
I believe that our main mission is to fight sanctions, not find faults in
this regime or that. Otherwise, we will be wasting our energies. The AI
report
also mentions many other states in the area, in Europe, in Asia and Africa
and
even the US.
This group, if I understand right, is for “the Campaign against sanctions in
Iraq” not the campaign against the Iraqi regime or Saddam. Please let’s keep
it at
this.
Best regards to all.
Hassan
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_______________________________________________
Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss
To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk
All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk